


promise me you won't follow

by aminami



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Grief/Mourning, M/M, P5R Spoilers, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26606956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aminami/pseuds/aminami
Summary: Joker looks at him fondly, a ghost of a smile still hiding in his features. He takes a breath, before asking:“Tell me, Morgana. Are you happy that I woke you up?”
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 33
Kudos: 283





	promise me you won't follow

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by a poem "a cat in an empty apartment". and again, thank you [cruellae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinkabelladk/pseuds/cruellae) for being my beta and for saving this story, after i lost all hope and didn't think it was possible.

“Hey, Morgana. Are you awake?”

Morgana stirs in his sleep.

He must have made a funny sound because Joker is chuckling, running his fingers through his fur in apology. Normally, Morgana would at least have the decency to pretend that belly rubs bother him. But it’s late, he just woke up, so he purrs briefly before shaking himself awake.

“You know I hate when you do that,” he mutters, swatting the boy’s hand away with his tail accusingly.

He sounds angry, but he really isn’t. Joker grins because he knows. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You looked so peaceful, you made it way too easy to bully you.”

Something about his smile doesn’t sit right with him. He’s known Joker for quite some time, and he likes to think he knows him better than anyone else. It’s been a while since he last saw that grin - carefree, excited, with a hint of challenge lurking underneath it. As if Joker’s already caught a glimpse of his own future, and decided to send it a calling card before it catches up to him.

He hasn’t seen that smile since ______.

It bothers him because it’s the exact opposite of how Joker’s been acting lately - lost in thought, making up excuses just to be alone, shouldering some weight no one else seems to be aware of.

It’s why he has Morgana. To notice stuff when everyone else is too busy sleeping their problems away. 

Joker looks at him fondly, a ghost of a smile still hiding in his features. He takes a breath, before asking:

“Tell me, Morgana. Are you happy that I woke you up?”

Mona frowns at the implication. “You don’t mean right now, do you?”

“Just in general.”

He allows himself to ponder the question for a moment before answering. “I’m just happy to be with you.”

Joker looks far away again and Morgana wishes he knew the way to the place where his mind wanders off to, so he could guide him back. A place that seems more distant than the moon shining over their heads, barely visible through the dirty windows of the attic.

“We’re facing ______ tomorrow,” Morgana says carefully. “You should get some sleep.”

“That’s the plan,” Joker replies somewhat flatly. The grin is gone now, and he leans back, closing his eyes for a moment. “But before we do, there’s something else I must take care of. And I’ll need your help.”

“My help?”

Joker nods, the moonlight still tangled in his hair just for a short moment as he moves his head closer to Morgana’s as if he’s about to share some dark secret. “And whatever happens, you have to promise me that you won’t follow.”

“Joker…”

“Trust your leader,” Joker winks, the very same light now residing in his cunning eyes. “You believed in me that time in Kamoshida’s Palace. You saw a spark in me, and we both knew even then that we’re kindred spirits. And for that reason, you’re the only one I can entrust with that mission - you, my most trusted confidant.”

Morgana listens to him keenly. For a moment, Joker is nothing more than a frivolous spirit of rebellious reverie, the same spirit that caught Morgana’s attention months ago. 

At that moment, even if he desperately wanted to, he can’t bring himself to interrupt him. His words remain stuck in his mouth, shrinking under his leader’s gentle baritone. 

“There might come a time when it will become difficult to find your own voice. Your mind will try to deceive you, you’ll be very tempted to join me on my ______ ______. But when that time comes, I’m sure ______ will find you. And when he does, here’s what you need to do______. ”

Joker’s voice drifts away, but his message remains loud and clear, etched in the very depths of Mona’s mind like a map to a secret treasure.

  
  


He wakes up under a rather persistent and overwhelming weight.

He makes a sound as he tries to free himself from his prison, and finally, squirming his way out, inch by an inch, he manages to set himself free from under his human’s leg.

Mona shakes his body and looks over at Futaba’s sleeping form.

What a troubled little human. 

She never looks peaceful - all her limbs scattered on the bed, her mouth hanging open, and her fist holding on tightly to the pillow under her head. Her brain never shuts off, not even in her sleep, Mona thinks fondly. It must be tiring to be a human.

Her room is always dark, the curtains successfully obstructing any source of light, and to Mona, who at some point became very much nocturnal, it feels like being locked in a cage.

That’s why every night, he sneaks out on his own little adventure. 

He doesn’t know if his humans are aware of the occasional trips he indulges himself with when they’re sound asleep. But then again, they must be, because they’re always kind enough to leave the window in the kitchen open, just the right amount for him to sneak out.

After finding himself outside, Mona greets all the neighborhood cats, happily listening to fresh gossip. The tabby feline across the street just gave birth to healthy kittens - he congratulates the proud father as he passes by, but he doesn’t stop long enough to chat. Mona’s heart still warms at the thought that the world around him became just a little tighter.

His steps always take him to the same place, and he knows the way by heart. First, he jumps on the dumpster. From there, he climbs the rusty pipe, carefully measuring his steps as it creaks under his weight. He takes a moment to take in the view, before readying his paws - and then, finally, a leap of faith.

He finds himself on the rooftop of Café Leblanc, the very place where his master Sojiro takes him every day. However, his adventure always takes him through a more forbidden path, to the one place he’s never allowed to visit - Leblanc’s attic.

He jumps off the roof to land on the other side. Usually, he has to use his surprisingly nimble paws to get the window to open. This time, however, to his surprise, he finds that someone smashed the glass, leaving space big enough for even a human to enter. 

Admittedly, his social engagements have kept him from being able to visit the attic for some time now, but he can’t help but wonder just how long it’s been like this. Surely, his master Sojiro would have mentioned it, so it must have happened tonight. 

Well, whatever it is, it doesn’t concern Mona. He’s just a cat, after all. 

He enters the attic like a thief, shying away from the moonlight. It’s almost like his second nature, and only in the safety of shadows, he lets himself stretch and lick his fur clean. His visits to the attic are almost sacred by that point, so he needs to look his very best.

When he’s done, Mona braves the light and jumps on the makeshift bed, making himself cozy. In comparison to Futaba’s, the bed is extremely uncomfortable, but something about it gives him a strange feeling of peace.

He’s about to take a nap, when he hears it - a soft sound from the staircase that makes his ears perk up in attention.

For a moment, Mona’s heart beats faster with unexplained joy, and he can’t help but leap off the bed onto the wooden floor. It’s a strange feeling for sure - why is he so happy to greet someone he doesn’t know? Why is it that he can’t help but run towards them like they’re a long-forgotten friend returning from a long journey?

And then he stops in his tracks, as the somewhat unfamiliar smell hits his nostrils. It’s a strange feeling because he feels like he should recognize the smell, perhaps in another life, and yet, something in his mind successfully prevents him from identifying it. 

Mona’s whiskers twitch impatiently. His senses never failed him before, and he can’t help but feel just a little disappointed. In the meantime, the figure enters the light, their shoulders relaxing in visible relief, as he puts something back in his coat’s pocket that Mona can’t see. 

“Oh,” the unknown voice says, somewhat bitterly. “It’s just you.”

Mona decides to observe the figure before taking action. 

He’s a young man, most likely what humans would call handsome, his long hair falling into his eyes as he looks down on Mona with unexplainable contempt. He seems thin for a man of his posture, and somewhat sickly - more like a ghost than a human. 

Something about his appearance rubs his fur the wrong way, but he’s not able to put his paw on it. 

“I should have expected you’d be here,” the man continues and Mona recognizes that tone. Defeated, flat, barely audible. 

His new master uses that tone when someone mentions _his_ name. Mona can’t speak, and yet, even in his mind, he doesn’t dare to recall it. It’s as if the name sucks all air out of the room whenever someone attempts to say it aloud.

The man standing in front of him looks as if there is not enough air in this entire world for him to breathe. 

“It’s been a while, but you don’t seem too surprised to see me alive.”

Alive? Have they met before?

Then again, he understands the human perfectly, which by itself is very strange. Mona doesn’t understand just anyone, in fact, there’s but a few people whose words are completely clear to him. As for the others, he mostly gets by with pure instinct and luck. 

He understands the two humans who feed him and let him sleep at their place. He understands the people visiting them, but all of them always act so strangely, choosing their words as carefully as Mona measures his steps when he tries to sneak out in the middle of the night without waking up Futaba. 

The goal is quite similar - they’re all scared of disturbing the silence. 

He thinks that all of the humans he came to understand are very sad. He wonders why that is, but he can’t very well ask them - nothing but meows came out the last time he tried, and they seemed even sadder then.

Yet, he clearly is expected to answer right now. Which makes matters even more complicated. 

Something tells him this human’s name is Akechi. He doesn’t know where that knowledge comes from, but he trusts it more than he trusts his four paws.

“So what are you doing here?” The human, Akechi, asks. “You’re going to tell me I don’t have the right to be there? You’re going to tell me I don’t have the right to take his stuff?”

Mona is a smart cat. He knows _his, he, and him_ by now. He knows it’s the same _him_ his masters mention when he gets sad. 

His stuff… Mona takes a good look around.

He never noticed before, but now that Akechi mentioned it, the room really does appear to be full of different stuff - human stuff. Mona used to come here solely with the intention to nap on the bed, or bask in the early morning sun as he sits on the windowsill, observing the street outside before making his way home. He never wondered who this place belonged to, he just assumed it was his master’s. 

He’s always been drawn to it too, for a reason he can’t recall.

There’s an empty cup of coffee sitting on the desk, alongside some piece of paper full of those funny little lines humans use to communicate. A high school uniform - almost identical to the one Futaba wears when she goes out to school - lies carelessly on the bed and some strange knickknacks glimmer in the darkness somewhere on the dusty shelf.

A long scarf hangs from the ceiling beam, moving gently in the night breeze.

It’s a very messy room, and Mona scrunches his nose involuntarily. 

He also notices that Akechi did in fact take some stuff - there’s a pair of glasses in his hand, alongside a strangely shaped figure that humans use to play games with. He probes his mind for the name - that’s right, they call it chess.

Mona doesn’t know why Akechi thinks he’d mind, since none of it looks particularly valuable. Then again, who is Mona to know the value of the human objects? 

“So you won’t talk to me, huh?”

Mona suddenly feels helpless, and his little body almost sways with the weight of it. 

He wants to help this human. But how?

Akechi moves his way and Mona isn’t sure what he’s going to do, but the instinct kicks in before his mind fully processes the act, and he jumps away just when Akechi is about to kick him. 

He tries again, and again, but he makes it way too easy to dodge. Mona ponders the odd, violent gesture. Yet, no matter how long he thinks, he can not comprehend the reason for the human to do that. 

“Speak!” he screams, trying to throw stuff at him, but either his aim is very bad, or Mona is just that quick. Either way, all the things miss him by a mile. “Is it because it’s me?! Am I not good enough?! Do you blame me for what that selfish bastard did?!”

And then the human falls to the floor, sobbing. Mona thinks he must have gotten very tired. What a strange human. 

He’s seen a lot of humans cry because a lot of humans seem to suddenly be in a mood for crying around Mona. But never quite like this. Was it Mona that made him feel so sad?

Mona wants to tell him it’s okay to break down in front of him - that he can’t speak to anyone about this, he’s just a cat, and cats can’t talk to humans. He still wishes he could comfort him somehow. 

What to do?

He moves closer, carefully, one paw in front of the other. His tail is up, pointing towards the ceiling in high alert, in case Akechi tries to attack him again, but he seems too preoccupied to notice his closeness. 

Mona brushes his body against the human’s legs, and Akechi looks up in surprise.

Mona meows.

_  
I’m sorry that it’s all I can do.  
  
_

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Meow.”

Of course not. He likes humans, after all.

He thinks that Akechi finally understands, because something about his face changes, even though Mona can’t put a name to the emotion. It’s like an expression he imagines himself making when his new master, Sojiro catches him eating leftovers from dinner, but then doesn’t scold him anyway.

“So _he_ took you with him, huh?” Akechi asks, his face back to something completely unreadable. “That’s why you can’t speak.”

Mona makes a curious noise, unable to wrap his head around the question. Even though everyone seems to be talking about _him_ , he’s never even seen his face. Supposedly, however, he was his first master, so maybe it’s just that he doesn’t remember it. 

He certainly doesn’t recall being taken anywhere.

Akechi moves his hands towards him, and Mona flinches, but the hand is surprisingly gentle this time, as it awkwardly moves to rub Mona’s head, pressing just a little too hard. Mona forgives the human, though he thinks he likely has never petted a cat before. 

He moves his head around under Akechi’s hand to get him to rub the good spots - particularly the one behind his left ear - and Akechi makes a strange noise, almost like a chuckle.

“I think I got your fur dirty.”

Dirty?

Oh, that’s right. 

Mona hasn’t noticed before, but the human’s hand is bleeding. There’s broken glass on the floor, shining in the moonlight like scattered stars. Mona’s mind quickly connects the two facts - Akechi clearly broke the window to get in, which seems rather silly. His master Sojiro is very kind, and surely he’d just let Akechi in if he came a little earlier.

He hopes the human is going to be okay.

Then Mona remembers that there’s a place downstairs - a bathroom - where humans go to wash their hands. Delighted with his discovery, he pulls on Akechi’s sleeve with his teeth.

“You want me to follow you?”

Mona lets go of his sleeve to let out a meow and starts heading towards the staircase. Akechi stares at him for a moment, and Mona doesn’t know why the decision seems to be so hard for him. He can see the struggle in his eyes, and Mona isn’t _that_ perceptive about humans, but he can swear that for some reason, Akechi is really scared of what he’s going to see downstairs. Most likely when he first saw Mona enter the attic, he quickly retreated towards the steps without actually entering the café.

It’s such a nice café, too, and Mona is sure Akechi is going to like it. Silly human.

The footsteps are barely audible on the staircase - Mona really wants to congratulate Akechi, he moves so very quietly for a human. He thinks about Futaba, constantly bumping into furniture, mumbling words under her breath that for some reason make Sojiro scold her. He thinks about Sojiro himself, his steps even heavier when he thinks no one’s looking at him.

Akechi is different. He seems like someone who’s used to sticking to the shadows, all his movements calculated and deliberate. This human doesn’t waste a single step, a single breath. Mona finds him fascinating - he really is as quiet as a ghost, no, a phantom maybe.

They both stop when they reach the end of the stairs. Mona scratches at the door to the small bathroom, but Akechi completely ignores him.

Even though the lights are out, he can still make out his face clearly. Akechi seems paler than before, his lips moving soundlessly around words that perhaps would be too terrifying to be spoken aloud. Mona keeps his vigil by Akechi’s side, wondering if he too should say his own silent prayer. 

Neither of them speaks out loud. The ringing silence of the room makes Mona wonder if he’s suddenly gone deaf. He gives Akechi a moment before meowing just to test his hearing, but he’s relieved to find his ears work just fine. Akechi jolts as if someone slapped him awake, raising his blood-covered hand to his lips.

“I’m sorry,” he says with a slight shortness of breath, and Mona realizes it’s the face humans make when they’re about to be sick. “I guess, it just hit me that this is the sight he’d see every day when making his way for breakfast.”

Mona wonders what’s so special about breakfast, but it’s not like he can ask. Perhaps Akechi’s hungry? 

He makes his way to the kitchen, standing on his back paws to tap at the front of the fridge. Akechi follows him like a ghost.

“Do they not feed you? Is this why you brought me down here?”

Mona makes an annoyed sound - why is it so hard for them to get along? Why can’t Akechi understand that Mona just wants to help him? 

It’s too late, however, and Akechi’s already opening the fridge. Mona gives up - he might be just a little hungry after all - and he retreats from the kitchen to patiently wait on the counter. 

Akechi comes back soon enough with a small plate, and the smell makes Mona’s mouth water. Still, he inspects the food carefully before putting it in his mouth, just to be sure. It’s something very familiar, and yet something Mona doesn’t remember eating. Such a strange feeling.

Whatever it is, it’s delicious. Mona marvels at the fact that Akechi seems to know him so well.

“He let me in on your little secret once,” Akechi says suddenly, watching Mona eat. “He’d always steal some of the meat from the stew just for you. Then he’d season it, with your very careful instructions with all the spices you like.”

Mona never realized he liked spices. Interesting.

“It’s funny that I remember this little detail about you while struggling to recall his voice. I wish I could get rid of all my other memories if it meant that I could keep more of him within me. Even if it meant replacing my own soul with his, I wouldn’t mind.”

Mona licks the plate clean and looks at Akechi. He can’t help but think that Akechi hasn’t spoken to anyone in a long time, and perhaps it’s because Mona is just a cat, it’s easier to let the words scatter across the silence of the room. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” he scowls as if reading his mind. “I guess it’s just liberating to be able to talk about it to someone who can’t talk back. Maybe it’s just good to talk to someone at all.”

Mona doesn’t get why he’s angry, he’s glad he’s useful to the human. Perhaps, they can get along, after all.

“I don’t know how much you understand,” Akechi continues, his hand sliding across the counter. “Or how much you remember.”

Mona meows, a little puzzled. He likes to think he understands a lot. He doesn’t know about remembering, however, since somehow he did forget his other master.

“He would stand right here,” Akechi begins and Mona lets himself be swept away into the story.  
  


_“Anything else I can get you, Detective?”_

_Akira smiles, leaning on his hand. The flirty nature of the question is indisputable at this point, but he plays dumb, just to let their little game last a little longer._

_“That depends. Is there anything else you serve besides coffee and curry?”_

_“Hm,” Akira pretends to think long and hard on the answer. “I’m sure I can think of something to reward such a hard-working man such as yourself.”_

_Akechi likes to think he doesn’t grin, as he pretends to continue reading the novel, even though his eyes are no longer even remotely capable of following the text._

_“I can’t focus when you’re staring,” he says, but they both know it’s more than that. He lets Akira close his book shut, as he gently puts his bare hands over Akechi’s gloved ones._

_They stay like this for a while. Akechi feels dizzy with happiness, and he lets himself be drunk on it just this one time. Just this one time, he lets the reality stay outside the café, the warm atmosphere of Leblanc shielding them away from their worries._

_“Did you think of something?” He asks, and they let the book fall on the counter, forgotten and unimportant._

_“I did,” Akira admits. His now free hands, rest against the shiny wood as he leans closer towards Akechi. “But that seems a very after-hours kind of special. It would be on the house, though, so it might be worth your time.”_

_“What if I don’t like the blend?” Akechi teases. “You seem to be awfully confident that you know my taste.”_

_Akira’s so close, Akechi can smell his perfume, the expensive one he got from Ann on his birthday. He never particularly liked it, just because it makes Akira smell less like coffee and curry - the smell he associates with their very first kiss, somewhere in the backstreets of Kichijoji._

_“Just this one time,” Akira mutters, a coy smile already present in the corner of his mouth. “I can give you a sample. How about it, Detective?”_

_Akechi closes the distance between them, and Akira laughs against his lips, and just for a moment, they’re just two teenagers - hopelessly in love with their own denial._

“I think,” Akechi says. “You were asleep on this stool here. You told us to cut it out, and I ended up going home that night.”

Mona wishes he could remember. But no matter how hard he probes, his memory remains blank. He decides to let Akechi talk.

“And then there was this other time, near that staircase.”

_“Akechi, please... They’re going to be here any minute.”_

_He really loves having Akira pinned like this, his wrists pressed over the bathroom door, and his body arching towards Akechi’s touch like a bow, ready for his hands to pull the string._

_“Are you ashamed of being seen with me, Joker?” he teases, and Akira moans a little at the nickname. “They’d likely just accept it, the same way they accepted this reality. They’re so easy to please.”_

_It makes Akira tense under his body - it’s like feeling ice crack under his feet in the middle of a frozen lake, and he can’t turn back now._

_Akechi curses under his breath, as he steps away to take a good look at Akira’s face. Akira tries to avert his gaze, but any attempt of hiding his thoughts is cut short but Akechi’s hand, holding him forcefully by the chin._

_“Don’t worry about them,” he says, pressing his forehead against Akira’s. “We’ll convince them somehow. You’re their leader, if anyone can wake them up, it’s you. Even if you don’t, we make a good team. We’ll stop him, just you and me.”_

_Of course, he’ll convince them. The same way he convinced Akechi to become his lover. The same way he smooth-talks shadows like it’s the easiest thing in the world. And if they don’t…_

_Akechi’s going to make sure Maruki pays. It’s not like he can die twice._

Mona blinks, as Akechi pushes some coffee canisters off the counters, and the beans spill over the floor like sand from a broken hourglass. 

“I hate you,” Akechi whispers. “You and everyone who’s ever gotten between us. To think we could have had more time together. To think all those people thought they deserved his company when it was me who…”

He stops talking as if he suddenly remembered he needs to breathe, too. 

Mona can understand that feeling - he hates when Sojiro and Futaba don’t give him enough attention, and get busy with other stuff, especially when he requires their affection. It’s probably a little like that. 

He jumps off the counter, to sit on one of the tables. Maybe this human needs someone to help him remember something important? Mona just needs to guide him to the right place.

It seems to be working because Akechi freezes once again.

“This booth…”  
  


_It’s where the bubble suddenly breaks._

_“Please, don’t do this.”_

_“You know it’s the right thing to do. Surely, you weren’t as stupid as to think…”_

_“Goro, I don’t care…”_

_“Don’t use that name. You’re not allowed to use it now, it won’t change my mind.”_

_“Please, just listen to me.”_

_They’ve been at it for an hour. He’s never been so tired of seeing Akira’s face, as he sits there, defeated and Akechi hates himself for ever approaching Akira, for fooling him into believing they could be lovers._

_“Do you really think so little of my abilities?” Akechi snarls. “And what’s even worse - your own? We can do this. We can take him on. Fuck everyone else.”_

_“We’re not going to survive,” Akira says, his knuckles tight and pale where he grips the edge of the table. “We have to find another way. It was hard enough to get through the Palace with just the three of us, and Morgana….”_

_“Maruki gave us an ultimatum,” Akechi reminds him bitterly. “We can either accept his reality or rebel against it. Personally, I plan on going out with my gun loaded. You’re so spineless it’s sickening to me. To think I once deemed you my rival.”_

_“Akechi.”_

_Akechi’s already at the door._

_“If you accept his offer,” he says, one hand on the handle. “I’ll make sure my other self remembers it. Even if his memory is gone, somehow, he will remember my promise. And he will despise you for it.”_

_“Please stay, let’s…”_

_“If you don’t show up tomorrow, I don’t want to see your face again.”_

  
“You wanted them to wake up so badly,” Akechi mutters. “Bitter and dark like the coffee you made. To think you could be this cruel.”

Mona sways on his paws, Akechi’s words barely echoing in his ears.

“Morgana?” He hears a distant voice.

That’s it. That’s the name _he_ always called him. Never Mona, Morgana. Because his master treated him seriously. It’s a name he chose himself, and he knew how important it was to him. They were partners in crime, after all. 

Something in his memory lights up like a match in the cold room. The fire in his mind, it’s almost like his smile, and he…  
  


_He hasn’t seen that smile since he realized they would all die._

That’s right, all of it happened, because -

_We’re facing Maruki tomorrow.  
_

And he wasn’t able to recall, but _he_ predicted that, too, when he said -   
  


_Your mind will try to deceive you, you’ll be very tempted to join me on my final act._

_But when that time comes, I’m sure Akechi will find you._

…to remind him he had an important mission. In order to fulfill his role, he had to remember that -

_I’ll leave a message for him under the mattress. Make sure to guard this place when I’m gone. Don’t let anyone disturb it. And Morgana… Thank you._

**  
  
  
  
Let’s make this a show to remember.  
  
  
  
  
**

But it’s more than that. Akechi needs to remember something, too. He just needs this one final push.   
  
  


If you loved him, say his name.

Don’t let him disappear.

Say his name.   
  


  
“I can’t,” Akechi says, almost as if he suddenly understood him.

  
  


If you don’t say his name, we can never be free.  
  


  
It finally clicks. That _he_ planned so far ahead, already anticipating their grief. That’s why he tasked Morgana with guarding the place. To make sure to be there when Akechi finally comes.

He’s faintly aware of Akechi calling after him as he runs back upstairs. He doesn’t check if Akechi follows, so he’s relieved when he suddenly hears much heavier steps somewhere behind him. He reaches the bed, clawing at it with all his strength, trying to get the mattress to move. 

A hand pushes him out of the way, as Akechi seems to understand his intent, lifting it with ease to get out an envelope.

They both stare at it as if they’re about to defuse a ticking time bomb. 

Their eyes meet, as Akechi kneels on the floor next to him. They both nod in agreement, partners just for this one night.

He doesn’t expect Akechi to rip it open so desperately, his eyes hungry for this one more proof that once upon a time, someone lived right here in this very attic. 

There’s a slight tremble to his hands, as he holds the paper between the two of them, forgetting that Morgana can’t make out what it says, no matter how hard he stares at it.

Akechi carefully opens the letter, his eyes moving quickly through the text. 

“He wants me to read it out loud,” he says dryly.   
  


_Dear Goro,_

_Just this once, I’ll let myself call you that name. You won’t be able to scold me after all._

_Please read this letter out loud - this message is meant for both of you._

_I know you thought that I left without a word, and likely, you hated me for it. But I could never do that to you, so I entrusted this letter to Morgana, I believe he’s more than capable. If I’m right, he might not be himself at the moment. Still, I trust that our bond was strong enough to help him remember his mission._

_He can’t talk back to you the way he is now. Please be nice to him, Goro._

_You told me how badly you hated the idea of being controlled by someone else. I think I’m very much the same. We’ve always been similar, haven’t we? So can you really blame me for making a choice of my own? You both decided to dangle your life in front of me. But it wasn’t just your life that was at stake. I made this choice for everyone._

_You didn’t honestly think I’d let you manhandle me into making a decision like that? I would be a very lousy rival if I just let you control me. I took your challenge and I wasn’t going to back down from it. I didn’t want to let myself be defeated - not by you, certainly not by him. There is another way and I’m going to prove it._

_I’ve always had an instinct of a thief, did you know? One eye on the treasure, and the other on the way out. But maybe I got it all wrong? Maybe the path to the treasure required that final sacrifice from me - becoming a phantom, rather than a thief._

_I failed everyone. I failed as your leader when I couldn’t get everyone to wake up. Then again, it is a comforting thought. That before I go out, they’re going to be happy._

_In the end, I feel like I failed you as your rival. I know you wanted to give it a shot. I know you wanted us to defeat Maruki or die trying. Don’t think of it as giving up - I’m a phantom thief, aren’t I? I decided to make my great escape, my final, most daring act._

_You’re angry, aren’t you? It was very possible that it wouldn’t work. My plan is as bold as it gets - to shatter Maruki’s reality from the inside. To violate the very nature of his world by taking my own life, hoping that my death will serve as proof that this reality is nothing but a well-fabricated lie. Maybe then they’ll wake up. Maybe, in the end, I’ll save all of you._

_I’m a sentimental fool, remember? I hope you realize just how precious your life was to me. If Maruki decided to create his reality out of kindness, then I’m setting you free out of love. I have no way of knowing if you’re going to survive this. Worst case scenario, I’ll join you in hell. But I think you will. That’s why I’m leaving this letter for your eyes alone._

_And finally, Morgana. I’ve hurt you the most out of everyone else. I wish you could just forget about me, forget that we’ve ever met. I took so much from you. I hope you’re happier in this reality that I left behind._

_I know you never really hated me, Goro, but I wonder, do you hate me now? But even if you never loved me -_

“Thank you for giving me the privilege of loving you,” Akechi finishes. “Thank you for every cup of coffee, every smile, every snarky remark. I hope that someday we’ll see each other again. Yours… Akira.”

The name, nothing but a cluster of syllables, an obstruction of air, as his tongue curls around the letters - that’s all it takes for the night to sigh in the relief.

For a moment, Akechi’s paralyzed, staring at something that Morgana doesn’t see, as his emotions finally come flooding, destroying every unspoken word on their path. And then -

“He didn’t believe we could win this,” Akechi whispers. “That stupid, selfish son of a bitch.”

But under the influence of Joker, _his_ Joker’s words, Morgana understands the real meaning behind Goro’s words.  
  


_  
I’m sorry it took me so long. I’m sorry that it had to cost you everything. I’m sorry I didn’t realize what your plan was. I’m sorry I didn’t stop you. I’m sorry for not making you realize that your life was precious to me, too. I’m sorry you died thinking I never loved you._

  
  
Morgana smiles despite all of it, his own gift from Akira, from _Joker_ more valuable than any treasure. He finally remembers - his smile, his face, the gentle timbre of his voice, the sway of his bag as he took a violent turn, making Morgana sick, the food made with love, his tender hand rubbing Morgana’s fur comfortingly after waking up from a bad dream. All the things he thought were gone for sure.

Morgana realizes that he might not ever be able to speak again. He doesn’t feel the need to. It was all for him - to guide him, to love him, to take care of him until his task was done.

And in the end, Morgana was loved too. 

At that moment, he realizes that he finally knows what he has to do. The final, unspoken promise that Akira didn’t dare to ask of him.

He jumps on Akechi’s lap, and he invades his cold facade with his own warmth, hoping to someday, somehow get the message of course.

“You want to come with me?”

Morgana nods. He needs to take care of him - after all, he’s Joker’s treasure.

They sit in silence for a moment, and that’s when he hears it again, only this time, the sound is finally what he most wanted to hear.

His head turns towards the staircase and just for a moment, in the moonlight, he sees a silhouette of a gentleman, a thief, his faithful friend, before disappearing into the shadows, and then making its way up towards the starlight.

That night for the last time, they both become Phantom Thieves.

They leave through the window together like partners, their footsteps quiet even in the silence of the night.

Morgana wishes for a moment he could write a letter of his own. To thank Futaba and Sojiro for taking care of him.

But in the end, they’ll know, won’t they? The same way Morgana always knew. 

With Akechi at his side, he looks at Leblanc for the last time, wondering -

_How long will this place last?_

And even if -  
  


_How many people will come and go, completely oblivious to the fact that such a radiant light went out just upstairs?_

With Morgana and Akechi gone -

_How many people will remember that he lived?_

  
  


That he made coffee right here behind this counter, that he laughed with his friends, and he cried when they weren’t around, that his back would crack as he swept the floors clean, and he’d eat in his favorite booth, and then he’d fall asleep with his homework still unfinished, his face pressed against this table...? 

  
Following more than just _his_ footsteps, they both wonder -

“How many people will remember that we…” Akechi mutters, unable to finish the sentence.

Morgana doesn’t think it’s important how many people will remember. It’s important how many people will forget. 

He wishes he could say it to Akechi. 

But if there’s anything that Joker taught him - some things are just better off when they’re left unsaid. Especially, when they’re done out of unconditional love.

**Author's Note:**

> talk to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/akihmorn).


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